Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Couponing: My Story & Downloads To Get You Started!

It seems like everyone are really starting to value the use of coupons more. I have been using them since high school. I had just started working and realized that I could use a little help stretching out my minimal paycheck dollars. Then I started buying Sunday newspapers and was shocked at all the coupons. I mostly used the restaurant, cosmetics and snacks coupons, but it was a start.

I eventually started looking for a second part-time job in college and found that the classifieds were also in the Sunday paper. On Monday's I'd stop by the career center on campus and pick up a newspaper and realized they didn't take out the coupon inserts. SCORE!! I could get the Sunday paper on Sunday, scope it out for any really good coupons and then pick up another tomorrow at the center. How cool was that! Also, If I ever forgot to get a paper on Sunday, I could always grab one at the school on Monday.

It wasn't until I had a full time job, out on my own (still in college full-time) that I really started using the grocery coupons. Even without a car note, it was still really tough to make the money stretch. While working, I fell into the "Keeping up with the Joneses" mentality. My co-workers were almost all married, with multiple incomes coming into their home. I really couldn't afford to eat out every other day but the coupons did help a lot.

Two years later I'm a married mom and I'm still using coupons on all of the products my family uses plus new product that I want to try. I'm happy that there are so many couponing blogs out there to help get the most for your money. Plus with the new show "Extreme Couponing", many people are getting into using them. So if you're new to couponing or just looking to brush up on your skills, here's a few free downloads to help you out.

Category Pages (for your coupon binder): Go visit the Deal Fanatic on Facebook here and spread the love about this awesome freebie. You'll be able to download this awesome pdf to help organize your coupons.